House Hunting Chronicles: T minus 3 days

We are three days away from officially listing our house for sale. The punch list is shrinking at a good pace; the marketing photos have been taken; the inspections are complete. We broke down and rented a storage unit, which has freed up some space in the garage. I have found that I am willing to let go of a lot of my gardening stuff in anticipation of having a smaller yard.

And we are SO tired.

To encourage the gods/goddesses of real estate to look favorably on us, I’ve taken some precautions. There are coins scattered around the entryway and walkway. We are burning a green candle. A small statue of St. Joseph has been buried in the front yard. Every single wishbone contest for months has been focused on a quick and prosperous sale. I have even dabbled in cultural appropriation by burning white sage in every room and thanking the house, at times profusely, for taking care of us for eight years.

There have been some unforeseen obstacles. One in particular was the window washer that we hired. A local kid is building a business doing various jobs in our neighborhood. He is personable and enthusiastic, and clearly has a good work ethic, but he doesn’t necessarily see important details.

After nearly four hours of (aggressively) power washing the windows, cleaning the sills and screens, we were left with massive amounts of dried water droplets. Apparently the system he was using was supposed to be left to dry without water spots. That didn’t happen.

My windows look worse than before they were washed. He offered to return another day after making some adjustments to the formula, but I had to fire him instead. I am hoping this proves to be a good lesson for him. Now we have to either hire someone else to wash them, or get on the ladders ourselves. Blah.

Did I mention that we are tired?

On a brighter note, the carpets were professionally cleaned today and they look quite good. I’ll take the win!

The argument for Purging

Purging is not for the faint of heart, but we do highly recommend it. Why leave all this stuff for your kids or other relatives to deal with after you die? We went through a very difficult time after my father-in-law died of Covid in early 2022. In the last years of his life, he had taken a left turn into hoarder-ville. He lived six hours away. For five months, we drove over the Sierra Nevada mountains to his property in the middle of nowhere and spent several days working through piles trying to determine what was valuable and what wasn’t. There was no clear indication as to where his important papers were, so we had to sort through every pile, every box, under every bed, in every cupboard — you get the idea. It was a hellish experience.

Suffice to say that is was an emotionally and physically exhausting experience.

One of the many advantages of purging on our own timeline has been a whole lot more control than we would have if we were suddenly, or even gradually, very ill. It is a lot of work, and yes quite tiring, but the lightness we are feeling now is pretty terrific.

Okay, I’m climbing back off my soap box. Wish us well as we continue this new real estate adventure.